British Foreign Secretary: Iran to face further and serious consequences

The "irresponsible action" put the safety of diplomats and their families in Tehran at risk and caused extensive damage to embassy property, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said, The Daily Mail reported.

Hague was commenting on the recent incident that occurred on Nov. 29, when group of protesters broke away from a crowd of a few hundred outside the main British embassy compound in Tehran, scaled the gates, broke the locks and went inside. Protesters pulled down the British flag, burned it and put up the Iranian flag instead.

Hague is expected to brief the parliament later today, as he has spoken with his Iranian counterpart Ali Akbar Salehi, "to protest in the strongest terms".

While Secretary pointed out, that he was "sorry for what had happened and that action would be taken in response", he noted, that "this remains a very serious failure by the Iranian government".

Clearly, there will be other, further and serious consequences, Hague underscored.

The evacuation of British embassy's staff was decided a day after protesters stormed and ransacked its embassy and a residential compound.

Police appeared to have cleared the demonstrators in front of the main embassy compound, but later clashed with protesters and fired tear gas to try to disperse them, Fars said. Protesters nevertheless entered the compound a second time, before once again leaving.

China expressed its dissatisfaction with the incident at the UK embassy, and Norway has decided to close down their embassy in Iran.

The U.N. Security Council condemned the storming of two British diplomatic compounds in Tehran and urged Iranian authorities to protect diplomats. The attacks occurred at a time of rising diplomatic tension between Iran and Western nations, which last week imposed fresh sanctions over Tehran's nuclear program that they believe is aimed at achieving the capability of making an atomic bomb. Iran, the world's fifth biggest oil exporter, says it wants nuclear plants only for the generation of electricity.